Series Title: Foreign Customs
Chapter Title: Ocean's Memories
Notes: This takes place a few years after they've graduated from the Academy, and after a hypothetical alternate third season, mainly because the canon third season isn't done yet, and I'm not going to risk messing up any details. In this hypothetical alternate third season, Ryou recovered from being the Hell Kaiser. There will be some references to how it happened as the story goes on.
Summary: While in California for a tournament held by Industrial Illusions, Asuka runs into someone she hasn't seen in sometime: Marufuji Ryou. They have a lot to talk about, too.
It didn't look all that much different from this side of things. Deep, cool, and streaked with a thousand colors from the sunset flames of the sky above. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen several times before in her life. But Asuka didn't move from where she stood on the beach, watching the waves roll in over and over, crashing against the sand. Seagulls soared overhead, crying out to each other in their strange tones, one or two swooping down every now and then to steal what they could from whatever remains that picnickers might've left or what possibly floated to the surface of the waves.
I wonder if it's too late to go swimming. It wasn't all that cold, even with the sun already on the horizon, and she hadn't really had a chance to relax all that much since she'd arrived here. The hotel had a swimming pool, of course, but there was a very large difference between that and the entire ocean.
How many times had she stood somewhere and watched the waves like this? She couldn't count them all. She and Fubuki had done it while they were growing up. Then she and Ryou had met so very frequently during her first year at Duel Academia. After he'd left, she hadn't really felt all that inclined to watch it anymore. There wasn't a reason too then, either. Fubuki was back with her, and that had been her main reason for being there.
It had at least been the reason she'd told anyone who had asked, as well as telling herself it, over and over. She was glad of the slightly rising evening wind, and the fact she was alone, right now. She didn't have to explain anything that might've been a blush to anyone, and she could ignore it for herself.
Things had been so busy with her the last few years, she hadn't even had a chance to watch the waters, even if she'd been able to come up with a reason why. Once she'd graduated, she had went straight into the Pro Leagues, determined not to put the years she'd studied to waste. Her record wasn't quite as impressive as Ryou's or Juudai's, but it was still respectable enough so she'd gotten this invitation.
She glanced back over her shoulder to the hotel on the hills behind her. It was still a little hard to believe that less than a day earlier, she'd actually met the creator of Duel Monsters face to face in the lobby there. Yes, he'd paid multiple visits to the Academy while she was there, but she had never actually met him until now. Seeing him greet Juudai like an old friend had been amusing, though. Most people would've been at least a little tongue-tied, but Juudai had just waved and wanted to know how Hayato was doing.
He never changes.
Juudai was almost the exact opposite of Ryou, that was for certain. Ryou had done more changing than anyone she could imagine. While he hadn't been the 'Hell Kaiser' for almost three years now, there were still times when he could be a little more ruthless than he'd been while they were in school together. She wished she could have a chance to talk to him about that whole thing. The chance had never really come up before now, and she wasn't sure if it would now anyway.
He was supposed to be in this tournament somewhere. All the young greats were there, and she flushed even more deeply at the thought of being considered one of those. People had referred to her as the 'Queen of Obelisk Blue' but the difference between dueling in school and the pros was vast. Some days it was all she could do to defeat her opponents, or at least get them to a draw. Some days she didn't even manage it at all.
Maybe since they were there together, for the first time in almost a year and a half, they would get a chance to spend a little time together, catch up on what had been going on in one another's lives. I'd like that, she decided, wrapping her arms around herself a little. The last time they'd met for more than a few minutes, in person, had been during Shou's last birthday party. They had talked some then, had a couple of drinks, and...
Yes, if they had any time to themselves this time, there was no way she was going to have anything stronger than tea, coffee, or soda. Not to mention, she was still under the legal drinking age in this country. It was hard to say if Pegasus would permit someone underage to have a drink, but since he went everywhere with a glass of wine in one hand, she couldn't be certain.
Asuka watched as the sun slipped completely beneath the horizon, the first stars slowly appearing in the sky as it did. It was still relatively early in the afternoon, of course, and the inside of the hotel began to look more and more attractive in her mind's eye. It was warm and full of lights in there, and all manner of holiday decorations. She wondered vaguely if this was how Pegasus celebrated every year. She hadn't ever heard of a holiday tournament before now, but that didn't mean he hadn't held one.
There were more than a few celebrities here as well. She was certain she'd caught sight of some of the most famous duelists. She hadn't been close enough to actually be certain, but some of their features were hard to miss, after all. I wonder if Kujaku Mai is here anywhere. The thought of meeting the beautiful blonde duelist was extraordinarily enticing.
She wondered if Ryou had met any of the famous people here. With his reputation, she wouldn't be surprised at all. She doubted they'd be lining up to meet him, but they'd at least cross paths a few times. It would be great for his career. It would be incredible enough just for the holidays.
"And here I am starting to freeze myself watching the water," she muttered under her breath a trifle crossly. Still, it was a beautiful sight, and she liked seeing it and knowing it was the same ocean that lapped all around Academy Island. That place had been home to her for three years, no matter what, and she would never forget everything that had happened there.
She glanced back again; she could see more lights being turned on, and the faint sound of music and talk could be heard when the wind blew just right. It was going to be rough getting through the throngs to get to her room, but she wasn't in any kind of rush. Even if she were interrupted by someone along the way, it wouldn't be that bad. She liked talking to people well enough, after all.
Even knowing that, she still didn't get started inside. Sure, she did like people, but she liked her privacy just as much too. She wanted to go inside when she was ready, not just because she had been silly enough to forget her jacket.
Which she had been. She rolled her eyes mentally to herself. Just because it was California, it didn't mean the temperature couldn't drop a little, especially in December and at night. She tightened her arms around herself, and wondered irritably why the holidays couldn't come in May or June, when it was really warm enough to enjoy them.
Well, since she couldn't change the order of the seasons, she decided she might as well go in now. She could at least be grateful that Fubuki wasn't at this tournament. He'd been invited, she knew, but he and Manjoume had both declined to show up. She wasn't quite certain of why, but she had her suspicions about that.
Asuka started back towards the hotel, shaking the sand from her shoes as she left the beach itself. That was one advantage the island had over this place. She'd always watched the ocean from the pier, far above where the sand would get there to annoy her. Fubuki had laughed at her for that more than once, telling her that she wouldn't really appreciate the ocean unless she actually got into it, including the sand.
Like I'm going to take advice from him about that. She loved her brother deeply, but sometimes she wondered if he had a brain cell that wasn't devoted to the pursuit of fun and joy. It could have something to do with what happened to him, though.
No, that wasn't it. He'd always been a surfing love-god, or at least he had been so in his own mind, which was where he was happiest. That was yet another reason she was glad he wasn't there. With all that mistletoe around, she was certain he would start trying to lure her under it with whoever his current candidate for her boyfriend was. At least Manjoume had finally accepted they would only be good friends. It had taken a while to convince him, though. She was glad she'd finally done it before they'd left the Academy.
Maybe she should think about getting him something while she was here. There were still a few more days until Christmas itself, and she still hadn't worked out what would be the best gift for him. Even if she sent it right then, it would probably arrive late, but Fubuki wouldn't care. Exact dates had never meant a thing to him. More than once he'd given her a birthday gift that was either two weeks early or a month late, and had no idea there was anything unusual about this at all.
Maybe once the duels were over with the next day, she could shop around and find something he'd like. She knew she wouldn't have to look very hard. He could and did like virtually anything. It made him both the easiest person to shop for and the hardest at the same time. She looked forward to finding something that literally made him whoop with joy because it was just what he'd always wanted somehow. The trouble with that was, Fubuki wanted anything and everything and then some other things. There were days she wondered if one of them was adopted, and if so, which one of them it was. She suspected it was him, and that he was some kind of space alien. Her parents had sworn from the time she was six onward that it wasn't so, but maybe they just didn't know...
By the time she was actually on the outskirts of the hotel, Asuka almost wished she did have a boyfriend, or at least had brought someone along who might have a spare jacket or something like that. The temperature had dropped a little more rapidly than she'd expected, and she found herself looking forward to the warmth indoors. Dinner had to be a couple of hours away still, but maybe she could grab a snack in her room from room service. She hadn't yet tried that out, but it had to be better than some of the other hotels she'd stayed at while in the Pro Leagues. They were good, but this was something run by Pegasus Crawford. It had to be a little slice of heaven.
There was only one way to find out, and that was to get to it. Before she'd taken another few steps, the impeccably dressed doorman appeared and opened the door for her, bowing slightly as she went inside. Asuka smile a bit to herself. She knew she shouldn't get used to this, but it would be so easy to do so. Now, which way was it to her room again? Maybe she should've kept that map she'd been sent after all.
Half an hour later, Asuka really wished she had kept that map, and that she read better English. She had managed to pass her classes, but since this was the first time she had ever been in America, and she hadn't exactly kept up with the language since graduation, she was having more than a little bit of trouble.
"Do I turn right or left here?" She glanced first one way down the corridor, then the other, trying desperately to remember which way she'd come when she'd left her rooms before. The hallways weren't exactly identical, but they were so close to it that she just couldn't remember.
There were plenty of people she could've asked about how to get back where she wanted to go. Servants and staff went this way and that, all of them with an air that they not only were on incredibly important errands right now, but if someone needed help, they would suspend said errand in order to do so, as they lived to serve. She wasn't sure how they managed to pull that kind of air off, but they did. Perhaps there was a school for that. There was one for almost everything else, after all.
Part of her reluctance to ask was the fact while her grasp of written English was tolerable at best, even if it wasn't doing her much good at the moment, her spoken English was somewhat worse. So far, all of her duels had been in Japanese, for which she was profoundly grateful. Maybe Pegasus had seen to it? She didn't know, and as it wasn't helping her find her room, she didn't care.
She wondered what the odds were that she could see someone she knew spoke Japanese enough to help her. There were enough people here who could, she knew. Juudai was here, so was Misawa, Hayato had to be around somewhere, as well as Ryou, and those were just the people she had met in school. There were other duelists who had never attended the Academy, or who had went there after she had, or before. Japan had produced most of the best duelists of the world, after all. But wherever they were, they weren't here where she could talk to them.
There had to be something that she could do. Standing here frustrated at herself wasn't getting her anywhere, and she wasn't going to wait until people started to trail through for dinner and figure it out then, either!
"Really, Marufuji, what do you think the chances are that you're going to take this tournament?" She didn't recognize the voice, but the name they spoke froze in her tracks. It wasn't as if Shou and Ryou were the only ones to ever have it, but here, now, who else could it be?
The voice that responded confirmed it for her. "I'd rather not make any bets about it. I want to be surprised, either way." The calm confidence that underwrote every word told her a different story, though. She couldn't help but smile, then tried to figure out where the voices were coming from.
She hadn't looked about for more than a few seconds before a group of three young men turned down the hallway she was on from the left side. That must be where I should go. She almost hoped that Ryou didn't notice her there as she moved to the side to let him and his companions pass.
Whatever being it was that listened to the hopes of young female duelists was obviously taking the holiday off, however, as Ryou turned as they passed her, and their eyes met. Asuka hoped dearly that she wasn't blushing. That wasn't the impression she wanted to give at their first encounter in over a year's time.
"Just a minute," Ryou said quietly, and his two friends stopped at once. She wasn't surprised; he had always had that kind of pure control over a situation. She'd never really known him to travel with a group though. Was this some other kind of change that he'd had recently?
She didn't move as he came over to stand in front of her. "Asuka. It's been a while." That simple statement sent her stomach whirling in a mixture of delight and nervousness. She had never felt like that around him before, not even before the birthday party. Or after it, for that matter.
"Over a year," she said, finding herself smiling. "How have you been?" It was something of a silly question, as they had e-mailed each other at least a few times in the month, but it was the sort of thing people said in a situation like this. What was the harm in a little polite nothing or six?
"I've had a twenty-two duel winning streak," Ryou replied, and she congratulated him. That was a fairly impressive one. Hers was only twelve at the moment. "I'd heard you were going to be here. I was looking forward to seeing you."
With just those words, her stomach won the gold for internal gymnastics. She ducked her head just a little, and knew her face had to be red. She only hoped it wouldn't be too noticeable to him. She wanted to stay and talk, but not with those two strangers over there. It should be somewhere that wasn't some random hotel hallway, for one thing, and it should just be the two of them. She had to make some kind of excuse. "It is good to see you, but I've got to go. I need to look over my deck before tomorrow." She praised the long ago impulse that had driven her towards being a duelist. Having to check over one's cards could get one out of virtually any uncomfortable situation.
"Very well," Ryou nodded slightly, and she thought he looked a little towards the two he was with before back to her. "Perhaps another time?"
"Sure. Drop me an e-mail or or come by my room or something. I'm in room 417, it's..." she hesitated, and didn't care if she flushed this time or not. "I have no idea at the moment, but it's around here somewhere."
If Ryou had been anyone else, he might have laughed at the expression on her face. She was extraordinarily glad that he wasn't. All he did was motion down the corridor that they had come from. "Go down that way and get on the elevator. It's one floor up, turn to your left and go four doors down. The number's on the door." Nothing he said gave any hint that he thought any less of her for not being able to find her way around.
"Thanks." Asuka didn't bother explaining why she'd needed help. Now just wasn't the time. "I'll see you later, then?"
"Of course." Ryou nodded slightly, then went back to join his friends. Asuka didn't bother waiting around to see if she could hear them talking about anything in general, and her in particular. She knew they had to be asking. She really didn't want to hear it.
Following Ryou's directions landed her in front of her room in a very few minutes, and it was quite the relieved Asuka who closed the door behind her and leaned against it and breathed a deep and heartfelt sigh. Ryou always knew how to help her the best. He hadn't always known how to help himself the best, but for the most part, when she needed a hand, he had been there. There had been times he wasn't, of course, but she didn't care about that. It wasn't the big things that mattered, it was the small ones, the quiet little moments, like what had just happened. She would much prefer him to be there then than for him to think of her as some kind of silly damsel in distress who couldn't get anywhere or do anything without him holding her hand.
Room service, she decided at once. That was what she needed, something to eat, a good hot bath, and some time with her cards. She hadn't been completely lying when she'd told him she needed to look over her deck. One of her opponents, a bright young girl she vaguely recalled as having been a couple of years ahead of her in Obelisk Blue, had pulled a rather interesting combo on her during their duel that had almost spelled defeat for her. Asuka wanted to be certain she had a few other ways to deal with that, in case someone else tried it, or something like that. Not to mention she'd picked up a couple of booster packs before going down to the beach, and she wanted to see if any of them had anything that she could use before trying to trade. There were some very nice Cyber cards in the latest expansion set, and she'd been in hopes of getting some.
She moved over to the couch in front of the television, but didn't bother to turn it on. She'd tried that earlier, which was how she'd found out that what English she'd managed to learn in school had more or less managed to desert her. At least room service had people who spoke her language. That had to be Pegasus' doing. If she knew of something he would want for the holidays, she might well have gotten it for him in thanks.
I wonder if I should get Ryou something. The thought popped rather pleasantly into her mind and she considered it carefully. There were all kinds of meanings behind the thought, but she didn't think about them very much. It would just be a friendly gesture, something like giving out obligation chocolate on Valentine's Day. She'd done that for him a couple of times, especially her first year at the Academy. She couldn't remember having done it the second year, but then, she didn't remember a huge bit of second year anyway.
So now she had two people she wanted to look for some kind of a gift for, her brother and her brother's best friend. She had a lot of other people she exchanged gifts with, but most of those she'd already gotten and had stuffed down somewhere. If she couldn't get them their presents by the twenty-fifth, she'd just deliver them a little late. She'd apologize, of course, but it would work out all right in the end.
The question now was, really, what did she want from room service, and how long would it be until Ryou got in touch with her? She frowned a little; did she really even want to take that bath now? What if he came knocking at her door before she was done with it? That turned her as red as the proverbial tomato. Maybe it would be best to do it and get it done, just in case? That was what Fubuki would do.
No, Fubuki wouldn't care if someone interrupted him in the middle of a bath. He'd invite them to have one too, or just get dressed while they were waiting. The thought of what else Fubuki might say in this situation made her want him to be standing there: just so she could smack him for it.
"Who was that?" Matsuo peered behind Ryou as Asuka vanished around the corner, open appreciation in his eyes. "Do you know her? Is she single?"
Ryou wanted to roll his eyes. Only the self-control he practiced so rigidly kept him from doing it. This was why he didn't bother to talk to most people. They never bothered to use the brains they'd been given.
"Her name is Tenjoin Asuka, and we went to school together." He hoped that Matsuo was bright enough to catch onto his tone of voice. He did not want to discuss Asuka with anyone else at the moment.
Matsuo looked at him, his mouth open to say something else, and Ryou delivered one of the best glares he ever had, that cold-eyed stare that had rattled more than one dueling opponent of his. The other duelist blinked a few times, then shut his mouth audibly. Ryou approved. At least he was starting to show some sense. He really wished his manager hadn't saddled him with these two...well, idiots was a little too strong, but they had graduated the Academy only a few months earlier, and they still hadn't quite caught onto the hang of things in the Pro Leagues yet.
That was one of the things Ryou was supposed to do, according to his manager: show them how to survive in the pros. It wasn't something he was all that interested in doing. No one had shown him, after all. Of course that had led to certain other things, but he didn't stress about that anymore. It was over and done with and he'd learned a great deal from it.
He was still going to have to find a way to thank Shou for everything, eventually. He'd tried over and over ever since then, but nothing had even come close to being appropriate. Wishing for his brother to be in some accident so he could save his life was the only thing that he could envision coming close, but that was nothing he would wish on anyone, much less Shou. He would just have to settle for whatever lesser ideas he could come up with until a proper means of thanks presented itself.
At least Matsuo and Hidaka wouldn't have to worry about something like that. He might not be interested in doing this, but it was something he was going to have to put up with for now. Not being interested didn't mean he couldn't do it, or wouldn't do it well. There were other reasons they wouldn't have to worry about experiences similar to his as well. They hadn't been the unquestioned monarchs of the school during their attendance there, with scarcely a lost duel to their names and everyone worshiping their every move.
That had crossed his mind more than once. If he'd lost a little more before going professional, would what had happened have happened? If there had been a time or a moment at least when everyone he'd met hadn't respected him just for the fact he happened to breathe the same air that they did...
As he generally did, he put the thought out of his mind to deal with some other time. Right now, he had another tournament to deal with, and since he'd finally met Asuka after all these months, that was something else on the agenda.
I wonder if she would be interested in trying that again, without the liquor. He had considered that from every possible angle over the last few months, and the only thing that made any kind of sense was to make the experiment a second time. Bringing it up to her was where things tended to balk, since their paths hadn't crossed in more than the most casual way since then, and this wasn't something he wanted to discuss with over the phone or via e-mail. It was something that had to be dealt with in person.
He barely noticed whatever it was he was talking about with his two companions. He supposed they would make interesting conversation partners one day, but today wasn't that day. Especially not with his attention torn virtually evenly between the tournament and Asuka. He was certain he would have found them even less interesting if Asuka hadn't been there, since he would have then focused entirely on the duels themselves.
He was going to have to work some on his own deck, and very soon at that, as well. He had a suspicion there were two or three duelists here who were probably going to at least try to tailor their decks to defeat his should they come across one another in a round somewhere. He'd seen them looking at him with calculating looks in their eyes. That was one of the problems with having dueled professionally for as long as he had. Almost anyone could look up his habitual cards online and work out counters. It was why he tried to have as many alternate plans in place as he possibly could. Surprise was one of the keys to success.
"You two go have some fun," he finally said as they came out to the lounge where so many of the other duelists were roaming around, talking and laughing and doing some trading with each other. "I've got some other things I need to take care of."
Matsuo looked at him with a flash of a knowing smirk, then nudged Hidaka. "Come on, the boss has spoken. He's got better things to do than hang around us peons when he can be talking to someone he went to school with."
Before Ryou had a chance to say anything, Matsuo vanished into the crowd, Hidaka only a few steps behind him. Ryou shook his head just the tiniest bit. It was just as well they had left so quickly. Whether they figured out that he wanted to talk to Asuka, or at least arrange to talk to her as soon as he could, or not didn't matter. He just didn't want them around when he did that. His personal life was not for everyone's attention.
He glanced around the room for a moment, and was not surprised to see some old friends there. Juudai was deep in conversation with two or three other people, none of which Ryou himself recognized, and was as happy as a clam from all appearances. Another quick skim produced Misawa, talking quietly with someone in a corner. Ryou frowned; didn't he know that person? He felt like he should, but not from having met him personally. Perhaps he had been on the news or something. Strange, Ryou didn't know of too many people with naturally pink hair, and that just looked too real to be anything but natural.
Perhaps he'd ask Misawa about it later, if the chance arose and he didn't remember who it was before then. For the moment, there were other things on his mind. He moved away as quickly as he could, delivering polite nods when someone caught his eye, but did his best to get away from there and back up to his own room.
Once he was safely in there, he closed and locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed. At least he wasn't required to share his suite with Hidaka and Matsuo when they went to places like this. There was teaching them how to handle themselves, and then there was baby-sitting. The very last thing Marufuji Ryou was, was a baby-sitter.
Cards first, he decided, moving away from the door and pulling out his deck. He turned it over to see the Cyber End Dragon there, and wondered as he had many other times if it were looking back at him. There were times when he'd thought it had. He had never quite had the rapport with virtually any card that Juudai or Manjoume had, but this one had always held a special meaning for him. I'm surprised I can still use it. Very few non-duelists would believe a card could just not work for someone, but Ryou had seen far too many things over the last few years not to believe it.
After he picked up his collection of spare cards, he settled on the conveniently placed couch and spread them all out, organizing them almost automatically into monsters, spells, and traps, and beyond that. He spent quite the pleasant hour or two working out a few new strategies that should neatly puncture anything he came up against, whether it was designed to break through his usual habits or not.
Once that was taken care of, he stood up and stretched carefully. One drawback of sitting like that so much was that it did cramp up the muscles some. Maybe he would order a massage before it got too late.
Before it was too late, but after he did something else. He headed over to the laptop he carried with him at all times and flipped it open, logging into the Internet. It was getting just a little too late and there were too many other things on his mind to want to meet up with Asuka tonight. But there was always tomorrow.
If it could be arranged. If she were amenable. It was entirely possible that one of the reasons she hadn't ever responded to what had happened at Shou's birthday party was because she hadn't liked it even a third as much as he had.
If that's the way it is, then that is the way it will be. He wouldn't press anything on her if she didn't want it. Not knowing how she felt about the situation had been slowly working its irritating way under his skin over the last few months. He had to know something, even if it did mean she wasn't interested. It wasn't as if she were the only girl who had ever existed in the entire world, of course. She was simply one of the best. He had never known anyone like her, who attracted attention and the male eye the way moths were attracted to flames.
Well, there was Fubuki, who attracted attention, headshakes, and the eye of almost anything with a viable pulse, but that was something different.
With a mental shrug, he began to type an e-mail to her. He wouldn't use this to find out what he wanted, but to attempt to arrange a morning meeting, it was more than suitable.
She could see the ocean from almost any room in her suite. That was a plus in her way of thinking. It made relaxing a lot easier, at least for her. She stretched out on the bed, her cards still in a slightly messy pile behind her, and watched as the silent waves moved in and out again. They were only silent because of how far away she was from them, and her mind and memory provided all the soundtrack she could've needed. If she just watched them, and didn't think too much about it, she could imagine she was back on Academy Island, standing on the pier at night, with a light bit of fog all around, with Ryou only a couple of feet to the side.
Then she heard laughter and voices going by outside, and sighed. It wasn't anyone she knew, but just hearing it reminded her that she wasn't back in school and she had things to take care of. She hadn't gotten all that far in the last couple of hours with her deck-building. She kept getting distracted by the smallest things.
Ryou wouldn't be getting distracted. Ryou had probably built and rebuilt his deck four times already, if that was what he wanted to do.
Well, I'm not him, so if I get distracted, that's fine. She sat up some and turned so her back was to the ocean. She didn't mind being distracted, but she really had to get this sorted out. Who knew what some other duelist could trick her with if she didn't think about doing it to them first? Being taken by surprise was part and parcel of being a duelist, but so was trying to take the other person by surprise: by having avoided being surprised.
She could understand at times why her parents never bothered to learn much about the card game except the very basics. It could get a little confusing.
No, confusing is finding out that you... She halted the thought before it got very far. She was very good at doing that, with all the practice that she'd had.
It wasn't as if it had been a bad thing. She didn't have a great deal of experience to compare it to, but of the dozen or so times she'd done it, the time it had been with him had been the best. Sure, it was viewed slightly through a veil of intoxication, but it still beat the rest of them hollow.
That wasn't something she'd considered telling him. Telling him she'd rather liked it, yes. But was there a way to tell him that it was the best she'd had, sober or not, and not sound like some sort of fangirl or worse? If there was, she didn't know about it.
What am I worried about? This is Ryou. He's one of my best friends. It's not as if telling him will change too much. She knew that was one of the problems with the situation in the first place. What had happened had changed things, if only for her.
What would happen if it happened again? She wasn't planning on it, but she hadn't planned on it the first time, either. She was staying away from anything remotely alcoholic. That should put a halt to it right then and there, especially if he did the same thing.
They would talk about it before this tournament, and holiday season, ended. She was certain of that. Whatever might come out of that she had not the foggiest idea, but she knew they'd discuss it and figure out something. She found she was looking forward to that chat. She kind of wanted to know who the two people he'd been with were, and everything else that had been going on with him.
She carefully managed to work out a couple of new combos and some side strategies to supplement her usual tactics, then gathered the cards together. The booster packs had produced three or four good cards she could use, and they were all safely in her deck now.
From across the room came a familiar sound: her laptop's mail alert. Who would be mailing her right now? If it was a piece of spam, she didn't really want to see it. She put her deck away in the container and headed over to see just who had sent her something.
She knew who it was the moment she clicked into her e-mail program and saw the name. Ryou. It was somewhat strange to think of the two of them being in the same building and yet e-mailing each other, but strange was the new normal for her.
Asuka,
If you're not too busy in the morning, before the duels get started, I'd like it if you had breakfast with me. The hotel restaurant has some very excellent cooks, as I'm sure you've already found out.
There's a lot that we need to talk about, especially about what happened the last time. I've been wanting to speak with you about that, and I hope you want the same thing.
It wasn't signed, but it didn't need to be. He had never signed any e-mail to her since they'd begun to exchange them shortly after she'd graduated. She read it over and over, her stomach shivering and bouncing about in a mixture of nervousness and excitement. She was glad she hadn't bothered to get anything from room service now. It might have at least threatened to come back up, whether it actually did or not.
Breakfast with Ryou, and a chance to talk about everything she'd spent more than a few free moments thinking about. She'd been expecting this almost from when they'd run into each other earlier. That just meant she didn't have to think about it a whole lot, though. It was what she wanted. It was what he wanted. All that remained was to actually do it.
She hit the reply button and sent her acceptance, adding in a suggestion that he come by her room to pick her up since finding her way around the hotel was still a living and breathing nightmare. She'd checked in her trashcan to see if the map was still there, but apparently the staff had already emptied it for the day. There was something to be said for the efficiency of the wealthy: it was annoying and inconvenient at certain times, such as now.
Once that was done, Asuka realized she was at something of a loss for what to do. Dinner had already been served while she had worked on her deck, and she wasn't really hungry anyway. Any appetite she might've possessed had vanished as soon as she'd read Ryou's e-mail. She had a feeling it was going to return with a vengeance in the morning.
Another e-mail arrived as she tried to think of something to do to occupy her time until she felt more like going to bed, and she clicked on it without thinking. She groaned briefly as she saw an attachment labeled 'bestgiftever.jpg' on it. If this was some kind of weird virus...wait, hold on a second. She looked more intently at the sender's name and sighed. She almost wished it had been the virus. What in the world had her insane brother sent her now? If it was another list of guys who would be great boyfriend material, at least in his mind, she was going to find a way to smack him senseless over the Internet if it took her the next thirty years of her life.
Then again, considering he already didn't have a single grain of sense, maybe doing that would knock some into him. It was hard to say. That was the trouble with dealing with Fubuki in the first place. No matter what you said, did, or thought, he just didn't care. Maybe finding a way to make him care would be even better than finding the perfect present. It would be a great gift for herself, if nothing else.
Hey, sis!
Since I heard you and Ryou were both going to be in California for that Christmas tournament, I thought you might want a little reminder about what happened the last time you two were together. So here it is, courtesy of your loving big brother! Don't forget to invite me to the wedding!
"I'll invite you alright. I'm pretty sure I can find some tradition from somewhere that says the bride's brother has to be ritually sacrificed by the bride," Asuka muttered, then clicked on the attachment. She had a sinking feeling she knew exactly what it was, and she was not at all disappointed to see a very familiar image revealing itself before her. She should've known he'd caught it on film. The only thing that worried her was why he had taken so long to let her know that he had. Did Ryou have a copy of this? Did anyone else?
No, because it would've been all over the papers and the Pro Leagues and the Internet if they did. She'd seen it happen already, when someone had produced a fake picture of Ryou and that girl from the Academy who had sworn she was in love with him. Ran, that was her name. Kochou Ran. Ryou had announced publicly at that point that he wasn't dating anyone, and if anyone ever tried to claim he was before he made that statement himself, then there would be consequences. He hadn't specifically stated anything like a lawsuit but the implications had all been there. She'd framed that newspaper article in her small apartment back home.
There it was, in all possible glory. She was surprised, mildly so, that Fubuki hadn't printed a copy and sent it to her in a nice frame. Maybe he was saving it for her birthday. He'd sent her much, much stranger things.
Her finger flexed a little, ready to click the right button and get rid of it forever, or at least from her computer. She couldn't quite bring herself to do it, though. It wasn't as if it were a bad image. It was really quite well done. Fubuki had talent in photography. If he'd had sanity to go with it, she might've suggested he try that as well as music for whatever future career he had in mind.
Finally she saved the picture to her hard drive and deleted the e-mail itself, not bothering to reply just yet. She thought about the time difference between here and Japan, then shrugged and gave it up. Fubuki kept his own hours and virtually always had. There was no use in trying to make sense out of it.
She glanced at the picture again, and found a smile on her lips as she remembered that moment. His arms had been very warm around her, and his eyes had looked so very sea-green. There were no words she could come up with for how what had happened next had felt. She didn't want to say perfect, because that meant it couldn't get better, and she wanted it to be better. She wanted every time, if there were more times, to be better than the one before it. It might be a little silly, but everyone was entitled to some silliness in their life. If this was going to be hers, then so be it.
As the night crept on, Asuka kept looking at the picture and by the time she was ready to go to bed, she didn't quite want to kill her brother as badly as she usually did.
After all, what was really so bad about a picture of the first time she and Ryou had kissed one another?